Culture shock ! My points of view...

By Aimane !

When I was in Morocco, I imagined France and French people like Moroccan people with some stereotypes, but when I arrived here, I found lots of differences between the my native culture and this new culture for me which is the French one.

In fact, several aspects made me don’t feel at home. I will present these aspects classified on categories.

First, I will talk about the main organisation of the country which is the state; even that the Moroccan political system is very similar to the French one, some aspects of the state managing are different. In fact, in the Moroccan system, we do not participate enough to the big decisions; this is due first to the illiteracy of almost 40% of the population and then to the indifference of the cultured people. In France, the media talk often about the politic and also there are too many associations and organisations that make sensitive people and incite them to revolt against the authorities if they make bad decisions. The main example I can quote is the sticks against the CPE (Contrat Première Ambauche) which obliged the prime minister to withdraw this act.

Another outstanding aspect of the difference between Moroccan and French culture is the sensibility to religions. In fact, and since 1905, the French government decided to do not support religions costs no more and to become a lay state; therefore a wide range of French people do not trust in religions and in god. In France, people who belong to a religion must find the way to practice it without the help of the French government, for instance to build mosques, Muslim people can not rely on the state helps, so they must find the money themselves. In Morocco, the main religion is the Islam; it is the official one of the country so everybody can practice the religion as he wants. The Moroccan state helps people to practice their religion by building mosques, Koranic schools…

Now let us carry on for behaviour of the Frenchies. The proverb says that “politeness maketh man”. In fact, discretion and reserve are two of the traits that go into making up the French character. The French are often polite to the point where other nations would accuse them of hypocrisy. Unfortunately, I do not mean that French are more polite than Moroccan, but they just often use more formal language than us.

However, French are not so sociable and hospitable. In fact they prefer living alone and in some cases they may leave their own parents to live with a friend; we can illustrate that with the big number of old people living lonely and founded dying after many days in their home. Moreover, French do not used to invite unknown people for instance like what Moroccan can do.

Finally, as for the studies, French are hard-working people, serious and much organised comparing to us, and I think that these qualities are the key of success. Besides, educational system is very efficient and offers lots of opportunities, it gives lot of importance to experiments, while in morocco is more theoretical, and sometimes disconected with reality especially in the unniversity.